


The Playground

by leopoldjamesfitz



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Future AU, In a world where Hunter and Bobbi can return to SHIELD and Robbie has been saved, fluff af, my ideal world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 02:45:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10323833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leopoldjamesfitz/pseuds/leopoldjamesfitz
Summary: Lincoln swings his legs back and forth, nudging the chair in a slow circle. He’s only ever sat in a chair like this in his parents’ lab when the other has stepped out and he’s really not supposed to be going in there at all – Mum’s words, even though she’s broke that rule enough herself – he’s very patient and stays away from any harsh chemicals. But this setting is different, as just twelve hours before he’d been woken in the dead of night to his Dad of all people telling him to get dressed.Honestly, he’d been having a good dream about monkeys.





	

Lincoln swings his legs back and forth, nudging the chair in a slow circle. He’s only ever sat in a chair like this in his parents’ lab when the other has stepped out and he’s really not supposed to be going in there at all – Mum’s words, even though she’s broke that rule enough herself – he’s very patient and stays away from any harsh chemicals. But this setting is different, as just twelve hours before he’d been woken in the dead of night to his Dad of all people telling him to get dressed.

Honestly, he’d been having a good dream about monkeys.

And then, from there they’d been swept off on a big plane that hadn’t even looked like it was there in the first place, Mum and Dad bickering between one another while he and George tumbled along behind them. George was his stuffed monkey, and easily his best friend which was why it was slightly disconcerting that George wasn’t with him now, but rather with their belongings in another area. He hadn’t meant to leave him behind. He hoped he’d forgive him.

He didn’t remember landing, or what happened in between showing up in an underground base and then being escorted off to a private office where they now were other than forgetting George, which was easily the most important issue at hand.

The door opens to the side and he hears a cheerful, “FitzSimmons,” and he turns slowly at the name he’s only ever heard Aunt Daisy refer to them as and catches a glimpse of Phil, who’d once been their boss. He prefers the name Coulson but Lincoln’s always like the way Phil sounded. The chair rotates finally and he catches the look of confusion on Phil’s face. “… And Lincoln, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Well,” Dad sounds irritated, he mustn’t have napped on the plane like he did. “What did you expect for us to do with him? Drop him off with Gran and sidle away across the Atlantic for God knows how long?”

Phil pauses, calculating his response. “Er…” He coughs his nervousness. “Kind of?”

His Dad must roll his eyes because he can hear his Mum telling him quietly to be good but he can’t see either of their faces. “Next time, if you’re planning on a World Crisis, maybe don’t do it at the very same time that our parents have traveled aboard across the Atlantic themselves.”

“And if you wouldn’t mind,” Mum adds, looking over Dad’s shoulder back at Phil with a pointed look he’s only ever seen when he’s in trouble. It doesn’t have the same effect on Phil that it does him, though. A few more people file in, and offer him high-fives, which he appreciates. Especially the one from Uncle Mack, who’s somehow bigger than he remembers. “Would you give us more than forty-five minutes’ notice in the middle of the night? I barely had time to drop Rufus off to the neighbors, let alone worry about where Lincoln was going.”

Rufus is his dog, he fills in silently. Nobody thinks to ask who Rufus is, so he thinks everyone now filling the room up must already know. He knows everyone here, mostly, except for two people who might look vaguely familiar but he can’t place their names. Everyone ought to know who Rufus is, anyway, he’s the best dog ever.

“Guys,” Aunt Daisy cuts in, tone serious, and he almost wants to laugh as he recalls his Dad saying that Aunt Daisy’s never been serious a day in her life. It doesn’t seem like she could be the same woman who spent night after night out with him just the past summer under the stars in a tent while his parents were away on some mini-vacation that he hadn’t been invited to. “Can we please focus?”

“Yes, yes, Of course,” both of his parents say at the same time, easing back against the desk in front of him. They easily block out whatever’s on the screen, which is a bit annoying, but not unexpected. The meeting is wholly boring and filled with facts that he listens eagerly on, but has no information regarding whether or not he should dispute or agree with them, which he imagines is the intention. After Aunt Daisy calls meeting adjourned, a few people disappear, leaving only the people his parents and himself are familiar with.

“FitzSimmons, you’ll be in the lab, obviously. Robbie, you’re with me. Hunter and Bobbi, your main mission is to not kill each other, secondary mission is back-up for Robbie and I. Coulson and May, I need you both on the next Quinjet out to canvas the area before we get in. And I think that just about covers everyone.”

Lincoln, startled by his lack of acknowledgment, hoists himself up on the desk and pokes his head between his parents. “What about me?” He asks her. His Mum jumps a little and moves to chastise him for standing on the furniture, but Uncle Mack interrupts anything she might say.

“You,” he told him. “Are gonna be hanging out with me and Elena. We’ve got the new Switch, if you’re interested?”

He ponders the question for only half a minute. He’s not as familiar with Elena as he is with the rest of his parents’ friends, but she’d been the one sneaking him candy at his last birthday party after Mum cut him off, so she’s not half bad. Grinning, he looks up at the bigger man, “do you have Mario Kart?”

 

* * *

 

As it turns out, Uncle Mack is absolutely rubbish at Mario Kart. In the last several hours that they’ve been playing, he’s only won twice and Lincoln’s convinced its only because Elena threw the matches to let him win. She’s been the one to remind Lincoln this whole time that Uncle Mack is used to playing games on his own, not having to compete, which is where the incompetence comes from.

She makes him laugh. He likes her.

They’ve switched on to another game now, an interactive Mario one that has Uncle Mack transfixed. George had been recovered in the last few hours and he’s glad to have his friend back, even if it means dragging away hours in front of the telly playing mindless video games. These days are usually only reserved for when his Dad is taking a break from the lab altogether and its just the two of them. He doesn’t mind sharing this tradition with someone else.

It feels like nearly an eternity has passed when Aunt Daisy crawls into the room, wearing more bruises and a sling that hadn’t been there the last time they’d seen one another. The others follow behind, with the exception of his Mum and Dad which might worry him if he didn’t know the impeccable state their lab at home is in. Mack turns off the switch and sinks back into the couch and Lincoln adjusts George into his lap quietly.

Hunter sits across from them in the other couch, a celebratory beer – as he calls it – in his hands. He and Bobbi are easily his parents’ closest friends, besides Aunt Daisy, and he sees them a lot more than most other people. Which saddens him a bit because he really does enjoy Aunt Daisy’s company more than anyone else, but since becoming Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., her free time had been cut in half. (Mum’s words, not his own.)

“Oi, Lincoln,” Hunter points at him with the neck of his beer bottle as he catches his attention. “How’s school treating ya, you’re about halfway through high school at this point, I imagine?”

Lincoln laughs, although he hears that a lot from his parents’ friends and it only slightly bothers him, because he remembers that his Mum says the same thing about Hunter that Dad says about Daisy, never a serious moment involved. “I’m still in primary,” he answers quietly. “I’m only five. Dad says I have lots of time in school left.”

“And he does,” he hadn’t even heard the footsteps come up behind him and he turned back to see both his parents leaned up against the back of the couch, his Mum leaning a little more into his Dad than the furniture. They both look knackered, which he feels too, as its just past midnight in Scotland. He doesn’t think he’ll be sleeping in his own bed tonight, which makes George sad.

Hunter shrugs. “I’m just wondering when he’s gonna be coming in and taking all our jobs underneath our feet,” he defends, winking at Lincoln. Lincoln grins back. Bobbi moves to sit beside Hunter, nudging his shoulder quietly.

“He’s already beating Mack at Mario Kart,” Elena adds from her spot still to his right. “I’ve only ever seen one person do that,” she smirks, and it takes Lincoln only a moment to realize she meant his Dad.

Mack looks back at his Dad, defending himself. “Man, I can’t keep up, it’s like playing against you all over again.” He laughs, to show he’s not angry. “The kid’s just like you.”

“Ah, well,” his Dad pinks a little and his Mum brushes a kiss against his shoulder. He looks away with a slight grimace. “Perhaps the next one’ll be more like Jem.”

Aunt Daisy perks up at this. “Next one?”

Ah, The Sibling. Mum and Dad have been prattling on and off about the concept for several months now, warming him up, he supposes. But it’d only been a couple of weeks before when they’d sat him down and told him about it and talked about The Sibling like they were already in their lives. Both of them hope for a girl, but George is hoping for a boy. Lincoln agrees with George, a girl would just get into his things and he doesn’t like that.

Mum is glowin’, or at least that’s what Dad tells her half a dozen times a day, when Lincoln looks back at her. “Surprise?”

There’s a flurry of activity that starts with Aunt Daisy and moves across the room and back to Aunt Daisy somehow, the inhabitants congratulating his Mum and Dad like it’s a big thing that The Sibling is a thing. He’s still somewhat indifferent to the idea. His Mum and Aunt Daisy are talking animatedly in between one another and he can only pick out bits and pieces.

“… I expect belly pics twice a week and skype calls, she needs to know my voice, and I need to know your due date and god… I just realized, Jemma! You’ve been in the lab all day!” Aunt Daisy’s voice raises disapprovingly. “If I’d known…”

“Relax,” Mum’s tone leaves no room for arguing. “I’m a Biologist, I kept away from anything dangerous and besides, Fitz did most of the work. I napped in our old bunk halfway through the day. Feel free to watch the security feeds if you don’t believe me,” there was a challenge in her tone that Aunt Daisy doesn’t back down from.

“I will, Jemma Simmons, and I swear-“ she cuts herself off and all he can hear is the two of them murmuring things back and forth and when he looks back, they’re tightening in an embrace.

All this fuss over The Sibling has made him tired.

“Will we be going home tonight?” He asks his Dad futilely. He knows the answer before he even asks, but he sighs dejectedly when his Dad shakes his head.

“’Fraid not. We’ll be home by dinner tomorrow, I suspect.” He catches Mum’s gaze across the room. “Suppose you’ll be sleeping in with us.” He lowers his voice, moving closer to him. “Y’know, if Mum lets either of us have an inch of the bed,” he tells him, and Lincoln laughs. Mum must know they’re talking about her because he sees her turn her head quickly, eying them both. Dad puts a finger to his mouth to silence him and he laughs again.

Mum trails over to them and Dad lifts up his watch, feigning innocence as Lincoln’s eyes begin to droop. He’s getting very tired now, so is George.

“Ah, half eight. It’s far past your bedtime,” he hears his father state and he misses any quip his Mum might have regarding their conversation, already half asleep by the time he feels himself being hoisted up.

That night, he dreams of monkeys again, except he’s one and there’s a tinier monkey hanging around with him. She’s polite and doesn’t try to knock his things and he finds he isn’t annoyed when she hangs around him a little too much.

He wakes several hours later, thinking a sibling might not be the worst thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fic once where they used Lincoln for the name of F/S's baby and I just loved the reasoning. But, unfortunately, I've lost it and can't recall who wrote it. If anyone can let me know where this headcanon came from, I'd be more than happy to credit the originator. It's just my new favorite thing. I hope you enjoyed!


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